The doubts that surrounded the Delhi commonwealth games prior to the event had an echo in the chess world one week earlier. Players in the 39th Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia had similar last-minute accommodation doubts, as the organisers raced to complete the building to house the 1287 players from 142 federations, along with numerous officials. Just as importantly the chartered flight schedules for the competitors to travel to the venue in remote Siberia seemed prone to change, making it hard to link to pre-booked travel plan from all over the world. But one of the benefits of chess is the relative ease with which events can take place compared to sports like athletics, and all was duly ready in time.
At the time of writing only five of the 11 rounds have been played. Three teams share the lead in the open section on 5 match wins: Georgia, Hungary and defending champions Armenia, Hungary having defeated the top-seeded Russian team in round 5. In the women's section, the Ukrainian and Russian teams are the only two on maximum points. The final results will appear in the next column.
Today's game is from the women's event and features the New Zealand board 2, WIM Sue Maroroa, playing White, soundly defeating Eman Elansary of Egypt in their fourth round match. The New Zealand team won the match 2½-1½.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.c4 --- The idea behind this move in the Petroff Defence is to forestall Black's usual ...d5 supporting the advanced knight. 5.--- Be7 6.Nc3 Nxc3 7.dxc3 O-O 8.Bd3 Nc6 The knight has few squares available here and given White's kingside attacking prospects, 8... Nd7 bolstering the defence looks better. 9.Be3 Be6 10.Qc2 h6 11.O-O-O Qc8 White has plenty of space and pieces usefully aimed at Black's king. Black plans to exchange knights on e5 to relieve the cramp – requiring the queen to step off the d-file first. 12.h3 Ne5 13.Nxe5 dxe5 14.f4! exf4 15.Bxf4 a5 16.Rhe1 Kh8?! White wisely kept the centre clear open by exchanging the Black e-pawn, and in an open position there isn't time for moves like this. 16... Ra6 bringing the rook into the game was more to the point. White now employs a standard Q + B switch maneouvre to soften up the Black kingside.
17.Qe2! Bd6 18.Bxd6 cxd6 19.Qe4 g6 20.Qd4+ Kh7 21.Qf6! Rg8 White threatened 22 Bxg6+ and 21 ... Bxc4? is met by 22 Bxg6+! fxg6 23 Re7+ Rf7 24 Rxf7+ Bxf7 25 Qxf7+ Kh8 26 Qf6+! Kh7 27 Re1 and Black will lose her queen to stop mate. Maroroa is relentless in continuing to chip away at the Black defence. 22.h4! Qd8 23.Qf4 h5 24.Be4 Qc7 After 24...Bxc4? 25 Bxg6+ is ok, but better is 25 g4! hxg4 26 h5! destroying the king's pawn shield. White now breaks through by threatening to exchange the lynch-pin of the Black defence – her bishop. 25.Bd5! Bg4 26.Rd4 Kg7? Allowing the White rooks to penetrate down the e-file leading to mate. Best was jettisoning the f-pawn with 27 ...Rae8 (27...Bf5 runs into 28 c5 exploiting the pin on d6) when 28 Rxe8 Rxe8 29 Qxf7+ Qxf7 30 Bxf7 Re1+ 31 Kc2 and the black pawn weaknesses should make the win easy for White. 27.Rde4 Rgf8 28.Re7 Qd8 29.Rxf7+ Rxf7 30.Qxf7+ Kh6 31.Re7 Qh8 32.Qf4+ Resigns
Olympiad successfully under way
Problem: White to play and mate in 3.
The doubts that surrounded the Delhi commonwealth games prior to the event had an echo in the chess world one week earlier. Players in the 39th Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia had similar last-minute accommodation doubts, as the organisers raced to complete the building to house the 1287 players from 142 federations, along with numerous officials. Just as importantly the chartered flight schedules for the competitors to travel to the venue in remote Siberia seemed prone to change, making it hard to link to pre-booked travel plan from all over the world. But one of the benefits of chess is the relative ease with which events can take place compared to sports like athletics, and all was duly ready in time.
At the time of writing only five of the 11 rounds have been played. Three teams share the lead in the open section on 5 match wins: Georgia, Hungary and defending champions Armenia, Hungary having defeated the top-seeded Russian team in round 5. In the women's section, the Ukrainian and Russian teams are the only two on maximum points. The final results will appear in the next column.
Today's game is from the women's event and features the New Zealand board 2, WIM Sue Maroroa, playing White, soundly defeating Eman Elansary of Egypt in their fourth round match. The New Zealand team won the match 2½-1½.
1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nf6
3.Nxe5 d6
4.Nf3 Nxe4
5.c4 ---
The idea behind this move in the Petroff Defence is to forestall Black's usual ...d5 supporting the advanced knight.
5.--- Be7
6.Nc3 Nxc3
7.dxc3 O-O
8.Bd3 Nc6
The knight has few squares available here and given White's kingside attacking prospects, 8... Nd7 bolstering the defence looks better.
9.Be3 Be6
10.Qc2 h6
11.O-O-O Qc8
White has plenty of space and pieces usefully aimed at Black's king. Black plans to exchange knights on e5 to relieve the cramp – requiring the queen to step off the d-file first.
12.h3 Ne5
13.Nxe5 dxe5
14.f4! exf4
15.Bxf4 a5
16.Rhe1 Kh8?!
White wisely kept the centre clear open by exchanging the Black e-pawn, and in an open position there isn't time for moves like this. 16... Ra6 bringing the rook into the game was more to the point. White now employs a standard Q + B switch maneouvre to soften up the Black kingside.
17.Qe2! Bd6
18.Bxd6 cxd6
19.Qe4 g6
20.Qd4+ Kh7
21.Qf6! Rg8
White threatened 22 Bxg6+ and 21 ... Bxc4? is met by 22 Bxg6+! fxg6 23 Re7+ Rf7 24 Rxf7+ Bxf7 25 Qxf7+ Kh8 26 Qf6+! Kh7 27 Re1 and Black will lose her queen to stop mate. Maroroa is relentless in continuing to chip away at the Black defence.
22.h4! Qd8
23.Qf4 h5
24.Be4 Qc7
After 24...Bxc4? 25 Bxg6+ is ok, but better is 25 g4! hxg4 26 h5! destroying the king's pawn shield. White now breaks through by threatening to exchange the lynch-pin of the Black defence – her bishop.
25.Bd5! Bg4
26.Rd4 Kg7?
Allowing the White rooks to penetrate down the e-file leading to mate. Best was jettisoning the f-pawn with 27 ...Rae8 (27...Bf5 runs into 28 c5 exploiting the pin on d6) when 28 Rxe8 Rxe8 29 Qxf7+ Qxf7 30 Bxf7 Re1+ 31 Kc2 and the black pawn weaknesses should make the win easy for White.
27.Rde4 Rgf8
28.Re7 Qd8
29.Rxf7+ Rxf7
30.Qxf7+ Kh6
31.Re7 Qh8
32.Qf4+ Resigns
1-0
Solution: 1 Rxd5! Qxd5 (else 2 Qxf7#, if 1...g6 2 Qh6#) 2 Qxf7+! Qxf7 3 Nd7#.